Michael Minassian

Michael Minassian lives with his wife in Southern New England. He is a Contributing Editor for Verse-Virtual, an online poetry journal. His poetry collections Time is Not a River, Morning Calm, and A Matter of Timing as well as a chapbook, Jack Pays a Visit, are all available on Amazon. For more information: https://michaelminassian.com

All Morning

Those crows on the branches
overhanging the sidewalk
haven’t stopped complaining
ever since the sun came up.

In loud voices they caw and caw,
wake me from a deep sleep—
I try to listen intently
though I don’t understand

their clamoring:
black feathered, black beaked,
black tongued shadows,
and sharp-tipped sounds.

Even the flapping of feathers
as they lift from the trees,
gives a warning sound—
the warping of wind and wings.

Perhaps tomorrow morning
I’ll get dressed, put on a black suit,
black shoes, and white gloves,
then join the chorus,

wait for something to lift
from the sky, like clarity
or a dictionary of sounds
without letters or words.